


Homecoming, Part II

by justalittlegreen



Series: Sunshine and Filth [9]
Category: MASH (1970), MASH (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-16 20:52:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16502513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justalittlegreen/pseuds/justalittlegreen
Summary: Peggy meets Hawkeye, and all the flying sparks therein





	Homecoming, Part II

**Author's Note:**

> Help with tags again appreciated! <3 <3

Mill Valley, California, Spring 1954

 

Peggy thought she was ready. She had rehearsed the moment over and over in her mind, running through a million scenarios. Would they shake hands on the porch, like comrades, grinning? Would there be hugs and manly slaps on the back? Would they – this always made her heart beat faster in something that felt like fear or anticipation or both – embrace tenderly, like the lovers they were?

It’s hard for her to imagine BJ looking at anyone the way he looks at her.

It took almost a year – a year of consistent , loving letters, and enough scares to make her fear losing him – to imagine him kissing Hawkeye without the taste of bile in her mouth.

The longer the war went on, the more she began to hope that Hawkeye’s letter was right. That something – someone – could sustain him through the particular hell she’d never know. That someone would hold that piece of his story, the way she held Mill Valley.

That was how she’d come to her peace. The thought of him living without love and comfort in the bleakest corner of the world. How could she deny him that? How dare she?

Their station wagon rounded the corner. Peggy checked the bar (four bottles of gin, the good stuff, real, actual vermouth, and two jars of olives) one last time. She wanted to greet them at the door, but BJ pulled into the driveway and all the way around the back. Without thinking, she moved into their bedroom and looked out the window. She saw the car stop, saw the two bent heads, moving gently for a minute. Then BJ – her husband, her partner – opened the passenger door and lead Hawkeye into the back of the house, with his arm around him tightly, not letting go for a second.

She slipped down the back stairs just in time to see Hawkeye grasping at BJ’s broad back, the two men locked in the same embrace she’d shared with BJ not six months ago. They were kissing, and – to her shock – crying. Both of them. BJ’s shoulders shuddered and heaved as he poured kissed Hawkeye’s neck, his cheeks, his lips. They sniffled and gasped and when Hawkeye let out a long, agonized sob, Peg covered her mouth and felt the tears coming.

The two men moved like they were hungry for one another, BJ clutching the smaller man so closely she wondered how he could breathe. Hawkeye slowly stepped backward, never loosening his own grip, until his back was against the wall. Peg recognized BJ’s growl – low, heated, aroused – as Hawkeye’s hands slipped up the back of his shirt, and skin met skin for the first time since they’d left the war. BJ whirled Hawkeye around and shoved him into a kitchen chair, then kneeled at his feet, looking up at him with incredible tenderness and – was it joy? Was it disbelief?

He didn’t look at Hawkeye the way he looked at her. It was something entirely its own, love of a different color, but just as bright.

BJ laid his head in Hawkeye’s lap, letting the older man stroke his hair as the tears finally began to give way to grins and – was that giggling? Yes. The high, sweet, gurgling laugh of getting something you could have never hoped for.

For the second time in her life, Peg felt herself making space within herself that could not have come before. Another place in her heart, irrevocable and permanent. Watching them, she felt herself settling into their world. BJ, her sun. She, the earth that grounded him, warmed by him. And Hawkeye - he was the moon, all dark and reflective, an irresistible pull on anyone in his orbit, shining all of BJ's love back at them both.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat on the stairs, watching them come home to each other, but eventually the sobs faded to tearful smiles as they wiped each other’s faces. The first words they said were whispered as tenderly as declarations of love.

_Beej._

_Hawk._

Suddenly, Hawkeye spotted her on the stairs and turned bright red. BJ followed his eyes and turned around, stammering – _how long have you – I’m sorry – this is – this – Peggy?_

Now it was her turn to smile. Peggy came down the stairs and held out her arms to the man who loved her husband.

_Hawkeye. I’m so glad you’re here._

For a moment, he looked like he didn’t know what to do, but he embraced her gently, touching his forehead to her shoulder. _Thank you,_ he whispered softly.

And as he pulled back, he held onto her hands, she could see the spark that BJ must’ve seen from his very first day, the mischievous smile – she could practically _see_ whatever quip was coming from the back of his tongue. He grinned at her, and glanced up at BJ, who had sidled up next to her and put a hand on her back. Hawkeye squeezed Peggy’s hands and shook his head in mock disbelief.

_Mrs. Hunnicutt, I come bearing news that your application for sainthood has been approved. Your halo should arrive in about two weeks. In the meantime, may I suggest you relax in the company of some pitiful sinners who don’t deserve such company?_

Peggy and BJ laughed, and turned to show Hawkeye in.


End file.
